It took three years for Alejandro Gehry and Carrie Jenkins to make the jump from friends to more, but once they did, it came as no surprise to their inner circle. Gehry’s starchitect father, Frank, and Jenkins’ best friend, Regen Projects Director Heather Harmon, had been rooting for the match for some time when the duo (both painters who had been friends since Harmon introduced them in 2005) finally had their first official date in 2008. The Venice-based Gehry took Jenkins to downtown bar La Cita for its Punky Reggae Party, and afterward they stayed up bonding over shared obsessions. “A lot of it was the Muppets,” admits Jenkins, a Simi Valley native. Two years and six months later, Gehry bought a 1920s-era ring and planned to propose during a three-stop family vacation to Miami, Madrid and Paris. “I was going to wait until we got to Paris, but when we were in Madrid we went out to dinner with an old friend of my father’s,” Gehry recalls. “He kept saying, ‘If you don’t marry her, you’re an idiot!’ So I cracked.” Gehry found his moment following a nightcap. “It’s midnight in Madrid and it’s freezing, and I turn around and he’s kneeling in the rain in front of the Prado!” says Jenkins.

The couple chose the Gene Autry Residence at the Parker Palm Springs for their intimate 60-guest nuptials. Jenkins originally planned to wear a white suit, but later had a change of heart. “I like a good pair of pants,” she says, “but then we got engaged and I thought I should wear a red dress. It represents romance and passion and all of those things that are important.” Gehry Sr. helped to secure the gown. “He was working on a production of Don Giovanni with Rodarte, so he said, ‘I’ll talk to them,’” Jenkins recalls. Designers Laura and Kate Mulleavy asked the bride for her style references (Ken Price, Frida Kahlo and Goldie Hawn in Overboard) before eventually suggesting a cascading, rosette-embellished chiffon and silk satin gown from their archives, remade in the bride’s preferred red. The groom custom-ordered a white tuxedo jacket from Barneys New York, in homage to his grandfather, who’d always favored white for a tux jacket.

The bride walked down the aisle to “Crimson and Clover” and guests were seated at tables named for the couple’s favorite musicians, from David Bowie to Wanda Jackson. Under glowing bistro lights, tables were spread with a warm palette of red and orange garden roses and green orchids and succulents, all of which were accented with ’50s vintage tangerine runners and glowing votives. The couple’s first dance fit the evening’s retro-rural garden fantasy feel—they swayed to their song, The Crew Cuts’ “Sh-Boom (Life Could Be a Dream).” Come midnight, the DJ packed up but the celebration pressed on: “We brought the party into the living room, ordered more vodka and tequila and got out the iPod,” says Jenkins. “I had the time of my life.”